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Intel All Set to Buy Smart-Transportation Start-up Moovit

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The world of smart transportation has been set ablaze by advancements in science and technology. New technologies have paved the way for much smarter tech, which aids in making quick transit possible. In Israel, a lot of activity is going in this field, with several large mergers and acquisitions taking place amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most prominent mergers being spoken about is that of Intel closing on a deal with Moovit. The chip-making giant is said to be in the final rounds of negotiation when it comes to buying this start-up that utilizes Big Data and AI to provide transit and transportation services. Here’s a look at the deal and the impact it could have on the transit industry.

Big Deal in Place

According to various sources and reports, Intel is all set to acquire Moovit, which is a service provider to over 800 million people. The start-up which uses futuristic technology to make the best decisions when it comes to transportation is a significant player in the field of smart-transit. The deal is said to close in a few days, with experts stating that it could be near $1 billion in terms of valuation. Agencies like TechCrunch have reached out to spokespersons on both sides of the deal to confirm the news. Reports state that the Moovit correspondent did not negate the information, instead saying that they will provide further details later on.

Israel- An Upcoming Automotive Capital

Moovit had made been backed by the investment company by Intel Capital earlier as a part of strategic investment. The deal will help Intel gain a foothold in the smart transport industry, making Israel their headquarters for such operations. Furthermore, Intel already has several facilities in Israel, and this acquisition will add more value to Intel’s Israeli automotive hub. The automotive revolution is spearhead by the company Mobileye.

Intel had acquired this start-up that focuses on autonomous driving, three years ago in a deal that cost them $15.3 billion. However, sources are unclear regarding what role Moovit will have in this ring or hub. Experts believe that the company will be able to provide Intel with actionable, reliable, and real-time data, which will help with intelligent routing.

One of the biggest challenges that autonomous vehicles face is routing to prevent traffic blocks and to achieve efficiency. With a company such as Moovit providing Intel with valuable real-time traffic data, they will able to guide their vehicles with ease and perfection.

Earlier Partnership

Even before the suspected acquisition, Intel had been working with Moovit. Intel had, in fact, led the Series D funding of Moovit, which brought in over $50 million in 2018. Soon after this deal, Senior VP of Intel, who also serves as the CTO of Mobileye, Amnon Shashua, joined the upcoming start-up’s Board of Directors. The sale will help both companies bring in new talent and then integrate this unique talent into an already existing framework. Reports by The Marker and Wadi Ventures state that out of the $1 billion, a portion will go to employees as a 10% retention bonus.

Fast Growth

Moovit, which was valued at $500 million during its Series D funding round, had grown tremendously in the past two years. Their standalone app, which helps with navigation around cities, became a huge success. This was soon followed by integration with cab services like Uber, which led to further popularity and surge in the number of users. By 2018, over 120 million people were using their apps from over 80 different countries. In the last two years, that number grew exponentially to hit 800 million users in over 102 different countries, with services available in 45 languages globally! The company has attracted a lot of attention in recent years, bringing in investors of the likes of Sound Ventures, Gemini Israel, LVMH, and even BMW.

Furthermore, the app has launched several services to help people during the COVID-19 crisis. These included a free service for transit data managers, which enable riders to plan their trips efficiently. Also, it has a real-time service option now to ensure that everyone gets the most accurate data and receives timely alerts. Additionally, Moovit has also come out with an emergency mobilization service, which allows managers to put out buses on routes that essential workers require the most.

The acquisition, if reports are accurate, will prove to be a significant turning point for the field of smart transportation. Already seen as one of the technologies that will soon change the way we live our lives, smart technology is a field that requires some push and investment. Since the COVID-19 has significantly curtailed our movement, the global economy is reeling as an after-effect. All of this has led to a significant slowdown in the automotive world. Therefore, in many ways, this is the best time for smart technology to enter the field. By leveraging these assets, we might be able to ignite some interest in an area that has been severely affected by the global crisis.

Since the COVID-19 has significantly curtailed our movement, the global economy is reeling as an after-effect. All of this has led to a significant slowdown in the automotive world. Therefore, in many ways, this is the best time for smart technology to enter the field. By leveraging these assets, we might be able to ignite some interest in an area that has been severely affected by the global crisis.

4004 Intel Microprocessor (1)

Marcian Hoff : An Electrical Engineer Who Co-invented the First Microprocessor

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The modification of an already existing invention is much easier than proposing the idea of creating a new one. With time, advancement in technology and acceptance within mankind both took place, which seemed like far-fetched goals in the earlier days. Even though there were many obstacles in the past, many significant scientists emerged out on the surface with innovative innovations. And, today, these are the innovations that are helping us take a step forward towards building a smarter world.

Marcian Hoff, popularly known as Ted Hoff, is one such brilliant innovator who invented microprocessor in the early 1900s. Hoff started co-invented things while he was pursuing a PhD. But, in 1968, his life completely changed its course and became a roller-coaster ride, when he was approached by Robert Noyce, co-founder of Intel Corp.

Early Life and Education of Hoff

Marcian Hoff was born on 23rd October 1937 in Rochester, New York. He was lured by the scientific world from a very young age, especially when he received a subscription to Popular Science from one of his uncles at the age of 12. For his undergraduate degree, Hoff went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and graduated in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical engineering. As an undergraduate student, he worked at Rochester’s General Railway Company during the summer breaks. During his time in this company, he worked with magnetic cores and transistors, and also developed his first two patents during this time.

Ted Hoff aka Marcian Hoff
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After completing his college, Hoff received a National Science Foundation Fellowship which gave him the opportunity to attend Stanford University. In 1959, he received an MS degree and a PhD from the same university in 1962. During this time, he co-invented least mean square filter with Bernard Widrow, his guide and a professor of Stanford University. The algorithm they invented is still used in modems today.

Hoff chose to stay in Stanford to carry out his studies on neural networks and integrated circuits, hence, continued research for another four years. While he was learning about integrated circuits, he realized how hard it was to build one.

During this time, Noyce was hiring for Intel, and he contacted a professor of Stanford to know if there was anyone in the campus who had the potential to become an Intel employee. And this is how Hoff ended up as Intel employee in 1968.

Intel 4004

Marcian Hoff joined Intel in 12th September 1968, as the company’s twelfth member. Intel was established with the main goal to replace all the magnetic core memories with semiconductor memories. Since, it totally diverted from the conventional idea about computer memory, creating a market demand was very tough. So, they decided to take up clients and develop memories as per their requirements. Intel’s first customer for this semiconductor memory was a Japanese company who sold calculators under the name Busicom.

They demanded different types of chips for performing various activities, and hence, both the companies signed a contract to create these chips in April 1969. After this contract, engineers were sent from Japan to work on this design, but at the same time, Hoff on behalf of Intel created another design, which used DRAM (dynamic random access memory). The company liked Intel’s approach better, as a lesser number of chips were able to perform more functions.

Intel, after successfully designing product for this client, wanted to expand the utility of silicon gate, and they hired Dr Faggin in April 1970 to conduct research and make progress on this area. Today, this metal oxide silicon (MOS) process is extensively used in what we call embedded system.

Hoff said that nobody in the company expected as much growth as took place in the following years.

What after Intel 4004 project?

After the 4004 project, Noyce’s next target was to implement their MOS technology in telephony. So, Hoff started working CODEC (a decoder working used in the telephonic industry to convert analog signals to digital and vice versa). Intel was able to come up with monolithic CODEC which could be used commercially.

Hoff left Intel in 1983 and joined Atari as it was working on some really advanced ideas. But, the business strategies of the company were very poor, which resulted in the dropping of the revenue from $2 billion to $1 billion within a single year. Hoff left Atari in 1985 when the company was sold.

From Engineering to understanding Business

Today, Hoff is the part of Teklicon, a company that deals with business and law; established by Gary Summers, who was the head of semiconductor designing in Atari, when Hoff joined the company.

Apple and Intel

Apple and Intel Agrees on Apple Acquiring the Intel’s Smartphone Modem Business for $1B

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Apple, through a blog post, announced on Thursday that it is going to acquire the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem business. According to the post, over 2200 Intel employees will switch to Apple. The agreement between Apple and Intel also includes the acquisition of IP and equipment from Intel and the payable amount for Apple is set to be $1 billion.

The deal between Apple and Intel is no surprise for most of the people, as there have been rumours making rounds that Apple will be taking over the Intel’s modem business so that it will not have to rely on other companies for the modems for its smartphones.

After the deal is closed, Apple will be independently building its own 5G modems for iPhones. Recently the company settled its dispute with its longtime modem supplier Qualcomm. But it seems Apple is no more interested in taking the help of a third party supplier for the equipment. The company will also be taking over the right on Intel’s 17,000 wireless technology patents.

Apple and Intel
Image Source: appleworld

“We’ve worked with Intel for many years and know this team shares Apple’s passion for designing technologies that deliver the world’s best experiences for our users. Apple is excited to have so many excellent engineers join our growing cellular technologies group, and know they’ll thrive in Apple’s creative and dynamic environment. They, together with our significant acquisition of innovative IP, will help expedite our development on future products and allow Apple to further differentiate moving forward.” said Johny Srouji SVP Apple.

Apple leads towards in-house production

Apple and Intel broke the news two months after the former made a settlement with Qualcomm in April. In fact, Intel had also announced that it plans to stop all its operations of producing smartphone modems after the two companies had ended their years’ long-running dispute. However, Intel will still be developing the modems for PCs, laptops, Internet of Things, etc.

According to Apple, the two companies will close the deal by the end of 2019, after going through all the legalities. Beliving the rumours, Apple may start 5G modem production as soon as the mid of 2020. The deal will lead Apple towards in-house production, and this way, it can focus better on the quality of its products as well as save a lot of money.

Neural Network Training

Intel and China’s Baidu Collaborates to Develop Neural Network Training Chip

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Baidu is hosting its Create conference for AI developers at Beijing, and it has announced a new partnership with Intel at the same. The two companies have plans to work together to build a new Nervana Neural Network Processor for training, aka NNP-T 100.

Neural Network Training
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The Nervana Neural Network Processor for training is a 16nm NNP-T, and as the name suggests, it is specifically designed for the purpose of deep learning and research of the neural network. The two companies have collaborated for both the software and hardware manufacturing of the chip, such that it will provide full support for the Baidu’s PaddlePaddle deep learning framework. The PaddlePaddle framework focuses on deep learning and research of the neural networks, to utilize it for the AI applications. Intel already provides its support for the framework through its Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

The chip is being built under the code name Spring Crest and is based on a new class AI model. According to Intel, the chip has got a different architecture than the other chips made by Intel. The new NNP-T 100 is enabled with image recognition and has got the software support for the on-chip memory. The company claims that the chip is much faster at performance and has been equipped with the high-speed on- and off-chip interconnects.

The corporate vice president of Intel Naveen Rao made the announcement during the event, where he said, “The next few years will see an explosion in the complexity of AI models and the need for massive deep learning compute at scale. Intel and Baidu are focusing their decade-long collaboration on building radical new hardware, codesigned with enabling software, that will evolve with this new reality – something we call ‘AI 2.0.’”

The company had released the first version of NNP in 2017 and plans to ship this version of NNP by the end of this year. The two companies have been working together since 2016, and their future collaborative plans also include MesaTEE, a memory-safe function-as-a-service (FaaS) computing framework based on the Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) technology.

Intel’s Ninth Generation Processor will Now Speed up the Laptops with a Max Speed of 5GHz

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Last fall, Intel introduced its ninth generation Core processors, among which the i9-9900K chip for the CPU was the first to achieve the 5GHz. In the same line-up, Intel has just announced another series of the core processors, now for the high-end laptops. These are the new 9th generation H-series processors available in three different Core versions, i.e. i5, i7 and i9.

intel 9th generation core processors
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The main attraction of this new series is the Core i9-9980HK processor, which will now be achieving the 5GHz speed for the notebooks and laptops, the highest speed to be achieved by a laptop processor. It features the base speed of 2.4 GHz and has got 16 MB of cache. The processors are having an eight-core/16-thread configuration, similar to its previous versions of the processors from the same series. It is shipped unlocked so that the enthusiasts who want to power up the process can easily overclock it.

All the six chips share a 45W TDP and are featuring the wifi 6, enabling it to provide as fast as 2.4 Gbps wifi speed for the laptops. These chips are based on the “Coffee Lake Refresh” (Coffee Lake-R) architecture and render the Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost.

The chips also offer 28 per cent faster 4K video editing and deliver 2.1x faster framerates for gaming, streaming, and recording. The chips are also shipped with larger SSD storage, supporting the Intel‘s Optane Memory H10 module. Those chips are all about speed and likewise, open the large files 1.63x faster as well as load the games 2.29x than the older systems. The new chipset also has got support for up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM.

Compared to a three years old laptop processor, the Intel’s new 300 series laptop chipset has got more power and is obviously faster. So the ones who are looking forward to changing their, older than two or three years, laptops must go for the laptops with any of those new variations of Intel processors. The new chipset now will be available with the Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Razer, Lenovo, and MSI laptops.

Robert Noyce : Co-Founder of Intel & Co-Inventor of the Integrated Circuit

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A scuba diver, a pilot, an inventor and what not? Known as the Mayor of the Silicon Valley, the legendary inventor Robert Noyce made his mark in the history of Semiconductors. Noyce was a sharp student and had shown his traits as an inventor, from his childhood. From building a boy-sized aircraft to creating a transistor from scratch, he always loved playing with machines. Having a sharp mind, he also gained the name Rapid Robert from his classmates. This remarkable physicist had brought a revolution in the field of personal computers with its the first integrated circuit and gave Silicon Valley its name.

Early Life

Robert was born to Rev. Ralph Brewster Noyce and Harriet May Norton, on 12 December 1927, in Burlington, Iowa. He was the third of his three siblings, Donald Sterling Noyce, Gaylord Brewster Noyce and Ralph Harold Noyce. Noyce was a brilliant student, and was also, good at other co-curricular activities like sports, acting and singing. He completed his high school from Grinnell High School and enrolled himself into the physics course in Grinnell College. During his school days, he excelled in mathematics. Later, he joined MIT and received a PhD in solid-state physics in 1953.

Early Career

During his PhD, Noyce found his interest in transistors. After the completion of his PhD, he joined Philco Corporation in Philadelphia as the research engineer. In 1956, he left the job at Philco and joined the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Mountain View, California, owned by the co-inventor of transistor and Nobel prize winner, William Shockley. He worked there for a year and left the company with the infamous ‘traitorous eight’ on having a dispute with William Shockley, on his way of working.

Founding Intel

After quitting the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, he co-founded a semiconductor company named Fairchild Semiconductor, with Sherman Fairchild, the owner of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, in 1957. At Fairchild Semiconductor, Noyce co-invented the first Integrated Circuit built with Silicon. During the invention of this IC, he also developed a planar process, that made it easy to develop the transistors at a lower cost.

Robert Noyce
Image Source: thefamouspeople.com

Working for 9-long years, Noyce left the Fairchild Semiconductors and co-founded NM Electronics, with his former co-worker, Gordon Moore, from Shockley Semiconductor Labs, in 1968. Later, NM Electronics was renamed to Intel Corporation. Noyce served as the President of Intel till 1975 and in 1978, chaired the board of directors of Intel, till 1978.

The team intel invented the first commercially successful product, the 3101 Schottky bipolar 64-bit static random access memory (SRAM) chip, in May 1969. In 1971, Intel made the first single-chip microprocessor in the world, that made Intel more famous, that ignited the personal computer revolution.

Noyce was popular for his working style and employee administration, that was the main reason of his leaving the Shockley Semiconductor Labs. He provided the employees with rewards and bonuses to encourage teamwork. He created a relaxed working environment for the employees, and avoided any type of luxuries, to maintain equality among every employee.

In 1978, he left Intel and joined the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) as the chairman. In 1988, Noyce decided to get retired and established an association named SEMATECH, a semiconductor manufacturing consortium with the help of SIA and held the position of the President of the company.

Personal Life and Death

Noyce married Elizabeth Bottomley in 1953 and had four children with her. The two got divorced in 1974. Noyce on 27 November 1974, got married to Ann Schmaltz Bowers, who became the first Director of Personnel for Intel Corporation.

On 3 June 1990, Noyce died of heart attack, at the age of 62.

In his life, Noyce kept himself busy in various inventions and got his name recorded as a great inventor. He received many awards for his contribution to the technology, including the Stuart Ballantine Medal in 1966, IEEE Medal of Honor in 1978, National Medal of Science in 1979 and National Medal of Technology in 1987.